NBA's talks about new league in
Europe are continuing, though the process remains in early stages
[June 07, 2025]
By TIM REYNOLDS
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The NBA's talks with FIBA and other entities
about the process of adding a new league in Europe are continuing,
Commissioner Adam Silver said, though he noted that it may take at
least a couple more years to turn the ideas into reality.
Silver spoke at a league event to unveil a refurbished Boys & Girls
Club in Oklahoma City on Friday — an off day for the NBA Finals —
and said it's difficult to put a specific timeline on the Europe
plans.
“I will say it’s measured in years, not months,” Silver said. “So,
we’re at least a couple years away from launching. It would be an
enormous undertaking. And while we want to move forward at a
deliberate pace, we also want to make sure that we’re consulting
with all the appropriate stakeholders, meaning the existing league,
its teams, European players, media companies, marketing partners.
There's a lot of work to be done.”
Silver and FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis announced in March
that the league and the game's governing body are finally taking
long-awaited steps to form a new league, with an initial target of
16 teams. It had been talked about for years, and decades even on
some levels. And since the NBA and FIBA went public with their idea
to move forward, talks have gotten more constructive, Silver said.
Silver said the NBA has been talking directly with the EuroLeague
and with some member clubs about a partnership. It's his preference
that the NBA work with the existing league on some level, though
it's still too early to say exactly what that means.
“Either way, we continue to feel there are an enormous number of
underserved basketball fans in Europe and that there’s a strong
opportunity to have another league styled after the NBA,” Silver
said.
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NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks during a press conference before
Game 1 of the NBA Finals basketball series between the Indiana
Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday, June 5, 2025, in
Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
About one in every six current NBA players hails
from Europe, including Denver’s Nikola Jokic (Serbia) and
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) — who have combined for
five of the last seven MVP awards — along with the Los Angeles
Lakers’ Luka Doncic (Slovenia) and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama
(France).
The NBA's board of governors will talk more about next steps with
the European plans in July at their scheduled meeting in Las Vegas,
Silver said. It's possible that the European venture could be
unveiled in some way — or possibly start — around the 2028 Los
Angeles Olympics, just given how much attention will be on
international basketball at that time.
“That might be a good launching pad for an announcement around a new
competition,” Silver said.
Some of the cities that are expected to have interest in being part
of the new venture include London, Manchester, Rome and Munich.
There will be others, of course.
“We haven’t had direct conversations yet,” Silver said. "But there
have been several organizations that have come forward and said they
would be interested and potential owners in operating in those major
markets in Europe.”
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